Hair stylist claims she warned police about Las Vegas mass shooter

May 25, 2018

(LAS VEGAS) — Among the thousands of documents just released by police about the Las Vegas mass shooting, a statement from one woman said a client named Stephen Paddock told her the Las Vegas Strip was vulnerable — months before the shooting.

A hair stylist, whose name was redacted, detailed an encounter she claimed to have had with Paddock in a statement to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police. She said his strange comments made her feel uneasy.

“He was talkin’ about the area down on the Strip,” she said in the statement. “I didn’t know anything about it because I don’t go to the Strip like most locals don’t. He said that it was an outdoor arena and that he couldn’t believe that they made it an outdoor arena because anybody could shoot into the crowd from … the casino across the way.”

Shortly after finishing the haircut, she said an Asian woman came in who she thought to be Marilou Danley, Paddock’s girlfriend.

The stylist said she asked the woman she believed was Danley whether she knew what Paddock had been telling her. She said the woman replied, “Oh, what about somebody shooting into a crowd and, you know, wanting to hurt a lot of people?”

The stylist claimed that Paddock paid the bill and then said, “I wonder what she’s worried about? She’ll be out of the country.”

She later claimed that Danley had said she was going to leave the country because of her husband’s statements. The stylist said Danley told her, “Oh my husband’s talkin’ about crazy stuff and wantin’ … to hurt people … I’m leaving the country. I gotta get out of the country before it happens.”

Danley was in the Philippines at the time of the shooting and no criminal charges are expected against her, the Las Vegas Metro Police Department has said. She has repeatedly told law enforcement that she was unaware of Paddock’s plans to carry out the shooting.

About three days later, the stylist claimed she called and reported the conversation to Las Vegas police, telling them, “This is probably somethin’ that’s just crazy, that I’m probably overreacting on, but it was really strange.”

The woman claimed she had also spoken to the FBI, who told her they could not find records of Paddock or Danley visiting the salon, after she said they had subpoenaed the records. She said she wasn’t sure what number she had called police from and later said she had begun to doubt herself about whether she called.

Las Vegas police released the thousands of redacted documents related to the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history on October 1, 2017, in which 58 people died and hundreds more were injured. The released documents were provided after a court order that followed a public records lawsuit from media organizations seeking more information on the investigation. The documents included a mix of police reports and witness statements.